Let’s Talk Again About RIFTS

Over the weekend I kept thinking about RIFTS and how I could run it without having to rely on the clunky Palladium system. After some googling I stumbled upon a post where someone mentioned he ran RIFTS using OD&D. At first I was wondering how one could do such thing, but after some more careful examination I came to the conclusion that its not really a bad idea.

If you look at it, Palladium is a lot like D&D (I think it could be most closely be related to AD&D) with a BRP-like skill system thrown in and with all pretenses of balance thrown out of the window. I actually don’t mind the last aspect. Balance in RIFTS or the lack thereof is what makes RIFTS fun. And believe it or not, a simple Operator can easily shine in a group of Cyborgs, Juicers, and Cyberknights.

This might sound a bit weird, but I guess you might take a basic framework like Swords & Wizardry (or a similar D&D retro-clone), add a simple skill system, and build the RIFTS OCCs with it. Isn’t a Ley Line Walker just a Magic-User with some special abilities thrown in for good measure? Mega Damage could be a problem, but you either follow RIFTS’ example and add MD and MDC to the system or you convert all damage to normal damage. In RIFTS 1 point of MD is equivalent to about 100 points of normal damage, but I am sure a ratio of 10:1 or even 2:1 would work fine and actually make it more easily playable.

I haven’t talked to my group of players about this, BUT if they are interested in the RIFTS multiverse, I might try to use OD&D to run RIFTS. If that fails, I can still rely on Pinnacle Entertainment’s Savage World version.

What do you think about my plans? Do you think this might actually work, or do you believe I am as mad as a hatter? Please share your comments below.

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8 thoughts on “Let’s Talk Again About RIFTS”

I see RPG rules just as a way of modelling the/a/any universe. You should be able to play any setting with any set of rules. I have never played RIFTs but if you think of a fireball on one hand and swords on the other anything D&D-like should be able to handle mega damage.

It’s not a bad idea really. Though I have found that super hero RPGs are alot more fun for converting something like Rifts. I don’t know if oyu possess Mutants & Masterminds, That was based loosely on D&D as well in the beginning, and to a degree still does. or perhaps the old Tri-Stat system, that also works rather wonderfully.

If you were to use OD&D, I could see Mega Damage becoming an extension of level. So that mega damage abilities do , maybe “1d10” per level . Or perhaps Mega Damage, do bonus damage. Maybe 1/2 the MDC value from rifts becomes bonus damage (divide the MDC damage by 10). or Divide by 10, to determine the number of dice for a MDC attack. so something that does 1d6x10 MDC , does +6 bonus damage, or does 6d10 damage. Either way MDC conversion will be the hardest part.

As far as a pecentile based skill system, i have always been very skeptical about that. Because i always thought that the starting values for thieves skills, was far too low. Though I have seen some games do it justice. Perhaps a base of 30 + an ability score. as a base. And each proficiency rating for a skill grants a +10 % bonus to the base chance of success. Then difficulty could modify that chance before the roll.

About the Author

Stargazer

Michael Wolf is a German games designer and enthusiast best known for his English language role-playing games blog, Stargazer's World, and for creating the free rules-light medieval fantasy adventure game Warrior, Rogue & Mage. He has also worked as an English translator on the German-language Dungeonslayers role-playing game and was part of its editorial team.

In addition to his work on Warrior, Rogue & Mage and Dungeonslayers, he has created several self-published games and also performed layout services and published other independent role-playing games such as A Wanderer's Romance, Badass, and the Wyrm System derivative Resolute, Adventurer & Genius, all released through his imprint Stargazer Games.

Professionally, he works as a video technician and information technologies specialist. Stargazer's World was started by Michael in August 2008.